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Turkey

Turkey

July 28, 2026

Ankara 11:42 am

27°C

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (not pictured) at the Pentagon on July 14, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia.

Zaidi to meet Erdogan as Turkey-Iraq ties take off, Kurds feel sidelined

The Iraqi prime minister's visits to Ankara and Riyadh underscore Baghdad's push to deepen regional ties as Turkey seeks closer cooperation on energy and security.

Vendors sell dry food as people shop by a banner reading " No to Inflation" near the New Mosque area in Istanbul's Eminonu district on Nov. 6, 2018.

Analysis

Iran war puts Turkey’s inflation fight, lira under fresh pressure

A prolonged Iran war is leaving Turkey's economy management caught between maintaining painful monetary tightening and cutting rates before the economy is ready.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Ozgur Ozel

Analysis

What challenges await Erdogan’s new rival and Turkey’s new opposition party?

Ousted main opposition leader Ozgur Ozel's bid to challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan depends on surviving a widening legal crackdown and reconciling deep ideological, nationalist and Kurdish divisions within his own coalition.

Halil Karaveli

By Halil Karaveli

Latest News

Top ally of Turkey’s Erdogan backs state funding for Ozel’s breakaway party

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) Ousted party leader Ozgur Ozel waves to supporters from atop a police water cannon vehicle after being forcibly evicted by police from his party’s headquarters on May 24, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey.

Explainer

As Turkey rivalry heats up, Greece to acquire $4B Israeli air defense system

David's Sling.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Ezgi Akin

Associate Editor (Turkey)

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

A general view shows Al-Azhar University, which was founded in the 10th century through the endowment of a charitable trust, or awqaf, in Cairo March 19, 2013. The endowments, known as awqaf, receive donations from Muslims to operate specific social projects, such as mosques, schools and welfare schemes. The system goes back more than a thousand years, to soon after the birth of Islam. A fund management venture set up in Dubai this month is taking aim at one of the great backwaters of the Middle Eastern eco

Turkey challenges Egypt with new Islamic university

The Turkish decision to build an Islamic university similar to Al-Azhar has escalated the already tense relations between Cairo and Ankara.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan waves to the crowd in Istanbul August 10, 2014. Erdogan?said on Sunday the Turkish people had "shown their will" in a presidential election which local media and allies said he had won, but stopped short of formally declaring victory, saying he would make a full statement later. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR41VSV

Erdogan angles to tag Gulenists as a national security threat

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to include the Gulenist movement as a national security threat to Turkey.

A teacher points to the board as he teaches students during a class at FEM University Preparation School in Uskudar November 27, 2013. At the FEM University Preparation School in Uskudar, a conservative district on the Asian side of Istanbul, young men are quietly receiving specialised coaching in how to pass the exams that give access to the most important jobs in Turkey. To a casual eye, nothing seems remarkable. As in nearly all Turkish schools, a portrait of Ataturk hangs in every classroom. There are n

Gulen community should return to civil society

The Gulen community should acknowledge that its strategy of building cadres within the state has backfired, jeopardizing the very realm of civil society this strategy intended to safeguard.

Iran media, activists criticize Turkey's Kobani stance

While Iranian authorities maintain strict red lines for national security issues, media reactions to Turkey's inaction in Kobani reveals Iran's tensions with Turkey over its Syria policy.

Turkish Central Bank fails to combat inflation

The governor of Turkey's Central Bank has done well in financial stability, but time is running out for him to control inflation.

Turkish Kurds watch the smoke rises from Syrian town of Kobani near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, October 18, 2014. A U.S.-led military coalition has been bombing Islamic State fighters who hold a large swathe of territory in both Iraq and Syria, two countries involved in complex multi-sided civil wars in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake.. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY POL

Who will Turkey 'train and equip' in Syria?

Turkey reportedly to train mostly Turkmen force, primarily to oppose Bashar al-Assad, not Islamic State; Al-Monitor Syria Pulse correspondents report on fighting in Aleppo and Daraa; Why did Assad dismiss his top security official?

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan (R) speaks during the U.N. Security Council meeting in New York September 24, 2014. Seen on the left is Jordan's King Abdullah. REUTERS/Adrees Latif (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR47L12

UN vote confirms Turkey's waning influence

Ankara’s failure to win a seat on the UN Security Council adds grist to the mill of those who argue that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have left Turkey with few friends in the world.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan arrives for a G-20 finance ministers meeting during the World Bank/IMF annual meetings in Washington October 10, 2014. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTR49Q12

As US economy recovers, Turkey's falters

As US economic indicators improve, emerging economies like Turkey's are increasingly concerned over the prospect of US rate hikes.

Turkish army tanks and aircrafts take part in a parade marking the 91st anniversary of Victory Day in Ankara August 30, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY ANNIVERSARY) - RTX131DZ

Turkey uses defense industry as political instrument

The Turkish government uses the defense industry to build its foreign relationships and to improve domestic standing.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) meets with retired Marine Corps General John Allen in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington September 16, 2014. Obama has chosen retired Allen, who served as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to coordinate international efforts to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Allen is named as the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition against ISIL, the acronym the administration used for the Sunni Islamist movement. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

Turkey to train Syrian rebels, but at what cost?

As talks continue for the use of Turkish bases in airstrikes against the Islamic State, Ankara agrees to train Syrian rebels in a move that increases the risk of Turkey’s Pakistanization.

Blue jerry cans usually used by smugglers ferrying fuel smuggled into Turkey from over the border in Syria are stacked in front of a shop for sale in Turkish border town of Hacipasa, Hatay province, September 8, 2013. Each night, a stream of beaten-up cars and trucks weighed down with blue jerry cans rumbles along the muddy lane, ferrying fuel smuggled into Turkey from over the border in Syria. The thousands of liters of diesel that make their way by cover of darkness to Turkey's southern Hatay province are

Turkey opens first case against oil smuggling with Syria

A court started to hear the first legal case of oil smuggling, revealing the dilemma between national security and the fight against radical Islamists.

Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad hold their weapons as they walk in Handarat area, north of Aleppo, after saying they have regained control of the area, October 4, 2014. The Syrian army has taken control of three villages, state television said, in a campaign by Assad's forces that could encircle insurgents in the city. Although there are smaller, more indirect routes into Aleppo, taking the northern road would also allow the army to besiege areas of the city which fell to insurgents in 201

Syrian regime takes advantage of coalition strikes

While the world focuses on the Islamic State, the Syrian army is making significant gains in Damascus and Aleppo.